By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Seaman softball team’s white-knuckle ride Tuesday ended with a trip to the Class 5A state tournament next week.
The hosts of the regional playoffs dispatched Salina Central in the regional semifinal 7-1. Then the Vikings had to outlast Salina South in the final.
Seaman pitcher Kaelyn O'Rourke picked up the pitching win in both games as the Vikings won a Class 5A regional title at Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Vikings risked their 2-1 lead in the top of the seventh by intentionally walking Salina South’s star hitter, which pushed the tying run to second base with two outs.
“We just wanted to make sure that somebody else beat us,” Seaman coach Jay Monhollon said of walking Salina South sophomore Paityn Fritz, who homered in the Cougars' 12-1 win in their semifinal game. “We decided that was best for our team.”
Seaman junior pitcher Kaelyn O’Rourke rose to the occasion, striking out the next batter to lock up the trip to state.
O’Rourke was the winning pitcher in both games. She threw four scoreless innings in the first game, striking out eight and surrendering just one hit.
O’Rourke gave up eight hits in the second contest but limited the Cougars to just one run in a scary fifth inning.
The junior gave up back-to-back doubles – both of which nearly left the yard – which tied the game at 1-1. But she settled down to escape the jam.
“In that situation, I just take a deep breath and reset and focus on the next pitch,” O’Rourke said. “There’s a lot of pressure, but I know that my defense has got my back.”
It was the Seaman offense that had O’Rourke’s back in the bottom of the fifth. The Vikings turned a leadoff single by Anna McLaughlin into a run-scoring sacrifice fly by Raegan McConnell to reclaim the lead.
O’Rourke allowed a leadoff single in the top of the seventh inning which put the tying run at first. Monhollon had seen enough in his pitcher to trust her to get the final out even after moving the tying run to second base with the intentional walk.
A decision made midway through the first game may have allowed O’Rourke to finish the second game on a high note. Monhollon pulled her from the first game in the fourth inning with the Vikings leading 4-0. By inserting Addison Sibley to pitch the remaining three innings, the coach made sure O’Rourke had something left in the tank.
“She kind of got in a groove in the second game,” Monhollon said of O’Rourke. “We didn’t really make the decision until the third inning to just let her ride. You could tell that she kind of got in the zone there. I told her then ‘This is your game.’ ”
“Addison was amazing in the first game. She came in and shut them down and gave us an opportunity to get to the second game.”
Senior Rosalie Schneider homered and doubled in Seaman's 12-1 semifinal regional win over Salina Central. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Senior Rosalie Schneider was the hitting star of the semifinal, blasting a home run and narrowly missing a second when her double banged off the top of the center field fence.
The Vikings will travel to Wichita State University for the 5A tournament May 23-24.
“I always want every team to have the opportunity to have that experience at state,” Monhollon said. “You’ll never forget it. It’s our expectation and the standard that the kids set for themselves.”
“We’re really happy with this big win,” O’Rourke said. “We knew it would be a hard fight the whole way. We’ve played a lot of good teams all season. We’re just excited to go to state and see what we can do.”
Semifinal
SEAMAN 7, SALINA CENTRAL 1
Salina Central (10-17) 000 001 0 — 1 3 1
Seaman (21-6) 301 030 x — 7 10 1
O’Rourke, Sibley (5) and McConnell. VanZant and Gary. W — O’Rourke. L — VanZant. 2B — Seaman: Schneider, Warren, Glasgow. HR — Seaman: Schneider.
Final
SEAMAN 2, SALINA SOUTH 1
Salina South (19-9) 000 010 0 — 1 8 2
Seaman (22-6) 100 010 x — 2 4 0
O’Rourke and McConnell. Yost, Fritz (5) and Herbel. W — O’Rourke. L — Fritz. 2B — Seaman: Warren, Schneider. Salina South: Koster, Langer.
